Freeze-dried apple

Freeze-dried apple is fresh apple that has been frozen and then dried under vacuum, so almost all of its water turns straight to vapour and leaves crisp, pale gold pieces that are nothing but apple. A fresh apple is about 86 per cent water, so it takes roughly 700g of apple to make 100g of the freeze-dried fruit: about 350 kcal per 100g, against about 50 kcal for 100g of fresh apple.

It is also the sensible place to start: apple is usually one of the cheapest freeze-dried fruits sold in the UK, and it suits savoury cooking as well as baking.

What freeze-dried apple tastes like

The pieces are feather-light, snap cleanly and then melt away. The flavour is sweet and clean with a faint sharpness at the end, and because nothing is cooked there is no caramel note and none of the chew of the leathery dried rings sold on UK supermarket shelves: see freeze-dried versus dehydrated.

• Cubes or dice, the most common and the best value: porridge, granola, rehydrating.
• Slices or rings, quicker to soften: lunchboxes and cheeseboards.
• Pieces or crumble, for bakes and cereal.
• Powder, for icing, batter, pork rubs and yoghurt.

Check two things on the pack. Some producers dip apple in ascorbic or citric acid before drying to keep it pale, so if you want nothing but fruit the ingredients should say apple and nothing else. And see whether it is peeled, because the skin carries a useful share of the fibre.

Which apple varieties freeze-dry best

Most packs simply say "apple", which tells you it is processing-grade fruit rather than a named British orchard variety. Where the variety is given it changes the result predictably. Sweet dessert apples such as Gala, Braeburn, Golden Delicious and Pink Lady give mild, biscuit-crisp pieces. Cox's Orange Pippin keeps its aromatic edge. A sharp cooker such as Bramley dries tart and collapses into purée once it meets water, which is what a crumble filling or an apple sauce wants.

Drying your own? Slice 3 to 5mm thick, hold the slices in lemon water while you work, and freeze them flat first. Whether the machine pays for itself is covered in is a home freeze dryer worth it.

How to use freeze-dried apple

Porridge and overnight oats

Stir 10g of cubes into the pan at the start of cooking. They drink up the liquid, plump back into soft apple and sweeten the oats with no added sugar; in overnight oats they rehydrate in the fridge overnight. More ratios in freeze-dried fruit in porridge and overnight oats.

Granola, cereal and lunchboxes

Apple and cinnamon is the obvious pairing, and the pieces stay crisp in a cereal jar as fresh or oven-dried apple never does. Add them to homemade granola after baking so they keep their snap: see freeze-dried fruit for cereal and granola. In lunchboxes they weigh almost nothing, do not leak and do not brown like cut apple.

Apple crumble, cakes and pastry

Rehydrated apple behaves like stewed apple, so crumble, pie and turnovers all work. Powder is the more interesting baking ingredient: a spoonful in a sponge batter, a scone dough or a buttercream gives apple flavour without the wetness fresh fruit brings, as in baking with freeze-dried fruit.

Pork, sausages and pan sauces

Here apple earns its place in a savoury cupboard. Crush a handful of pieces into sausage meat or a stuffing mix. Drop cubes into the pan after searing pork chops, add cider or stock, and they swell into the sauce and thicken it slightly. A pinch of powder works in a dry rub for pork belly. In drinks and smoothies, mild apple sits behind sharper fruit such as freeze-dried raspberries.

How to rehydrate freeze-dried apple

Reckon on about six times the fruit's weight in liquid, added a little at a time so you do not end up with soup.

For a crumble for four, start with about 90g of freeze-dried apple and about 550ml of just-boiled water, stand it for ten minutes, then drain well before adding sugar, cinnamon and the topping. The fresh to freeze-dried converter does the sums for other amounts, and rehydrating freeze-dried fruit covers fruits that behave differently.

Freeze-dried apple nutrition

Nothing is added and nothing removed but water, so every figure per 100g rises by roughly seven times. Remember that 100g is a great deal of fruit; a realistic serving is about 10g.

These are typical values and ranges from published composition data and product labels. They vary with the variety, the ripeness, whether the fruit is peeled and who dried it, so the label on your pack is the figure that counts. Every gram of sugar in plain freeze-dried apple is the fruit's own.

Concentration cuts both ways: a per-100g fibre figure of 9 or 10g looks impressive, but a 10g serving contributes about 1g, and the same arithmetic applies to the sugars and calories. The NHS counts 30g of dried fruit as one of your 5 A Day, and only one portion however much you eat. See does freeze-dried fruit count as 5 A Day and freeze-dried fruit and sugar.

Where to buy freeze-dried apple in the UK

Freeze-dried apple is not a fixture of British supermarket shelves. Small bags of slices turn up in high-street health-food shops, and Aldi and Lidl carry freeze-dried fruit as occasional special buys, but the reliable sources are online wholefood shops selling 100g bags upwards. Stock changes month to month, and where to buy freeze-dried fruit in UK supermarkets is where we keep track.

Price is apple's real advantage. The figures below are indicative ranges, not quotes; prices move constantly.

Last checked September 2026. Buy on the price per 100g, not the price on the front of the bag, and look for a short ingredients list, a stated origin and resealable packaging. Our own shop is not open yet, so none of the figures above is a Crispberry price; you can join the list to hear when it does open.

How to store freeze-dried apple

Moisture is the only real enemy. Keep the bag sealed in a cool, dark, dry cupboard, squeeze the air out when you reseal it, and decant into an airtight jar if the packaging is flimsy. Unopened packs usually carry a best-before date a year or more ahead; once opened, use the fruit within a few weeks while it is crisp. If it has gone bendy it is not wasted: see freeze-dried fruit gone soft and our guide to storing freeze-dried fruit.

Freeze-dried apple for babies and toddlers

Crisp pieces can be a choking risk for babies and young children, and the NHS names raw apple among the hard foods to avoid for that reason. Soften the fruit thoroughly in water, milk or porridge first, or crush it to a powder and stir it in, so nothing hard is left to lodge. NHS advice is to start solid foods at around six months and to offer harder fruits such as apple and pear cooked, without added sugar. Keep it to mealtimes, read freeze-dried fruit for babies and toddlers for age-by-age detail, and speak to your health visitor or GP about your own child.

Can dogs eat freeze-dried apple?

Plain apple flesh is not one of the fruits known to be toxic to dogs, and commercially diced apple has the core and pips removed. Grapes, raisins, sultanas and currants are another matter: they are toxic to dogs, and a dried grape is a raisin, so a mixed fruit blend is not a safe treat. Keep to a small amount of plain, unsweetened fruit, and ask your vet before introducing anything new. More in freeze-dried fruit and pets.

Freeze-dried apple in short

Buy cubes, keep them sealed, stir 10g into your porridge, and remember 60ml of water per 10g when you want soft apple back. It is the cheapest way to learn whether freeze-dried fruit belongs in your kitchen, and if it does, freeze-dried strawberries are the next bag.